Taiwan Leader Questions Unification

September 1, 2000

By Mark Landler

TAIPEI, Taiwan, -- Since he came to power in May, Taiwan's new
president, Chen Shui-bian, has labored to persuade China that he is
not a wild-eyed separatist, driven by dreams of Taiwanese
independence.

But Mr. Chen's charm offensive has come to an abrupt end. In an
interview here today, he took a harder line toward the Chinese
government on the crucial issue of when -- or even whether -- Taiwan
and China will be unified.

Mr. Chen said his remarks were not a shift in his position. But they
are a radical break from the guiding policy of the Nationalist Party,
which ruled Taiwan for 55 years until Mr. Chen's election.

Although Mr. Chen's predecessor, Lee Teng-hui, antagonized China in
the last year of his term by asserting that Taiwan and China ought to
negotiate as equals, his party adhered to the National Unification
guidelines, which have as their ultimate goal the unification of
Taiwan and China.

"The KMT government made unification the only possible
conclusion for Taiwan's future, the only resolution of cross-strait
relations," said Mr. Chen, using the initials for the Nationalist
Party's Chinese name, Kuomintang. "This way of handling it is
contrary to public opinion."

He said a majority of Taiwan's 23 million people opposed unification
with China, at least under the terms Beijing has proposed.

Mr. Chen's remarks are likely to anger the Chinese government, which
views him with deep suspicion because of his record as an advocate of
Taiwanese independence. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province
and has fought to deny it recognition as a sovereign state in the
international community.

"This does make it seem like he's backtracked on all his
goodwill gestures," said Antonio Chiang, the publisher of The
Taipei Times, an English-language newspaper that has supported Mr.
Chen.

Opponents of the president said his tougher tone could upset the
tenuous stability in cross-strait relations that he has achieved. "As
long as both sides were willing to work toward reunification, but
without a timetable, there was fragile ground for mutual trust,"
said Ma Ying-jeou, the mayor of Taipei and a Nationalist leader. "When
the president says reunification is only one option, he opens a
Pandora's box."

But for Mr. Chen, talking softly has had limits. By pledging in his
inauguration speech not to declare independence, the president
probably defused a confrontation across the Taiwan Strait. But China
has dismissed Mr. Chen's subsequent overtures as empty gestures
unworthy of reply.

The Chinese government has also tried to isolate Mr. Chen by
inviting Taiwan business executives and academics to Beijing, while
studiously ignoring the president. "These tactics of divide and
conquer are pervasive," Mr. Chen said. "Not only are they
trying to divide the parties, they are also trying to divide the
government and the private sector."

Mr. Chen made his status harder to ignore last month when he made a
13-day tour of Central American and African countries that have
diplomatic ties with Taiwan. His trip included a stopover in Los
Angeles, where Congressmen sympathetic to Taiwan tried to arrange
meetings with him. Under pressure from the Clinton Administration, Mr.
Chen demurred.

Mr. Chen said today that he still planned to push for closer
economic links between Taiwan and China, which had been one of his
campaign themes. But he cautioned that negotiations on direct links in
trade and transportation could not be divorced from larger political
issues.

While Mr. Chen's election was a stunning victory over the
Nationalists, he won with only 39 percent of the vote. And with
Taiwan's legislature dominated by the losing party, Mr. Chen's
government has little muscle. Critics accuse it of incompetence and
legislative paralysis.

Mr. Chen has even been criticized by officials of his own Democratic
Progressive Party. Political analysts said his sharper tone toward
China is also calculated to shore up his domestic support.

Despite the drumbeat of criticism, Mr. Chen seems unruffled. Looking
relaxed and speaking forcefully at the end of a long week, the
49-year-old president said Taiwan was going through a natural period
of unpheaval as it adjusted to the first government in its history
drawn from the opposition.

"After five months, some people are not psychologically
adjusted to this change," Mr. Chen said. "Those who support
us have high expectations. Those who don't like us hope there will be
chaos."